‘Smart Buildings are incomplete without Social Equity’

Pune: The planning and execution of smart buildings should be inclusive. Construction laborers and allied workforce must be given importance as without them it is hard to build smart buildings or even cities, expressed Vinod Gupta, a senior architect and partner at Space Design Associates, New Delhi. He was speaking at the third seminar of pre-cursor series of ‘CONSTRO 2016’ on Smart City. The seminar was organised by Pune Construction Engineering Research Foundation (PCERF) on April 23rd in Pune.

The topic of the discussion in the 3rd seminar was ‘Smart Buildings’. PCERF had invited three eminent speakers from the industry. Gupta talked on Setting Goals for Smart Developments, while Oscar Concessao, an architect and head of the Oscar and Ponni Architects, Chennai emphasized the topic of Smart Buildings: Innovate, Integrate and Empower. Both the speakers were complimented by Skandha Prasad from Honeywell Automation Pvt. Ltd. Banglore. He spoke about Driverless Buildings and how automation can convert a normal building into a smart building. Along with the presentations, the second newsletter of Constro 2016 was also unveiled by Vinod Gupta.

Talking about Smart Buildings and its planning Gupta explained number of goals that should be set to achieve smart developments. He explained, “When we are planning to build a smart building or projects then we need to consider the social equity of it. We should plan construction labor housing, outsourced workers housing etc.” He further stressed the point that only inclusive development can be called as smart development.

Concessao focused on three important points- innovate, integrate and empower to deliver smart buildings. He said, “India should concentrate on innovation of the new concepts for smart buildings. Integrating new technologies and implementing is the key for smart buildings.”

The third speaker Prasad explained how driverless buildings or automated buildings can be categorized as smart buildings. While explaining the importance of automation, he said, “If a car can be driverless then why not a building? Proper use of Building Information Modeling will create more smart buildings. Use of voice, gesture, cloud technology, Ethernet for automation in the buildings will change the course of the smart building concept.”

Architect Rajiv Raje delivered the vote of thanks. PCERF President Shrikant Nivasarkar explained the concept of CONSTRO exhibition and its theme in the upcoming edition.The session was moderated by Ar. Kavita Murugkar, convener, Smart City Seminar.